Ulster BOCES Electrical Construction & Maintenance students recently had the opportunity to take a field trip to Kingston Design Connection’s 2019 Showhouse. Recently, their classmates John Auer, from the Onteora Central School District, and Andrew Westervelt, from the Kingston City School District, were invited to be part of the redesign of the home, which is listed on the National Historic Register.

The project allowed Auer and Westervelt to perfect skills they have been working on at the Career & Technical Center. During the hands-on project, the students worked under the direction of other trade professionals and designers. They were assigned various tasks such as rewiring light fixtures and testing outlets in the house. In addition to practicing their collaboration skills in an actual professional construction environment, they also experienced first-hand the evolution that residential wiring has undergone since its invention in the late 1800s and learned how different it was from today’s modern codes.

According to Westervelt, the experience was uncommon and invaluable. “I learned how problem-solving is used on the worksite,” he recalls. “We had to figure out how to fit a plastic lighting box in the wall where there was already existing wire. We solved that problem by cutting a (larger) hole around it so we could put the box in and then run the wires.”

Maryline Damour, principal designer and co-founder of Damour Drake, a Hudson Valley based design and construction company, and founder of Kingston Design Connection, says the objective in including the students in the 2019 Kingston Design Showhouse was to help increase their proficiency in their trade area and to help them create connections to professional electricians. Damour says that she is looking forward to including Ulster BOCES students in the 2020 Kingston Design Showhouse.

“Participating in the Showhouse is a great opportunity to get experience and meet people in their field,” she says.